Choosing to stay in Boeruine a while longer, the Fulcairns curry some political favour. Cuinn shares an evening drink with the Archduke in an attempt to gain more of his confidence, and to gain more information as to his motives and plans. She discovers little, but Boeruine displays both shrewd diplomacy and boorishness in equal measure.
Cathal seeks out Tashairah at a diplomatic dinner feast elsewhere in the city. Tashairah greets him warmly and Cathal, rather stoically, has her recount all she knows of the political goings on in Boeruine. She tells him that people come and go from everywhere, that it's mostly business as usual, but the people of Dhoesone have brought troubling news of a Rjurikan horde massing somewhere in Stjordvik under a ferocious warrior queen. Cathal seeks out the ambassador from Dhoesone and confirms the rumours. While the ambassador has little else to add beyond what the astute Khinasi poet had already said, his tale intrigues Cathal further. Cathal says his farewells to Tashairah and returns to the Fulcairn rooms.
They return to Fulcairn Keep shortly thereafter. They speak with Melehan on their return, explaining that they have been forced under a Geass by the Archduke and his mage. They ask if he knows of anyways to dissolve its magical shackles should the alliance with Boeruine become untenable. Melehan reprimands them softly for allowing themselves to be dominated so, but graciously agrees to research a means to do remove the Geass.
Abbess Gwenevier requests an audience with Cuinn. She declares that she has determined an appropriate quest to serve as penance for the fiasco that befell the Sword of Haelyn within the walls of the castle town. She asks that they travel to a remote settlement in the Seamist Mountains where a great threat to the world, in the form of a child, has been divined to reside. Cuinn is skeptical of the value the quest, and Cathal and Mara are both reluctant to remove a child from their family, but the Fulcairns acquiesce for the sake of their relationship with the Abbess.
They travel east and Cuinn leads them through the rugged wilderness until they come upon an uncannily idyllic village in a hidden vally deep within the mountains. Cuinn gathers the villagers in the main square and, approaching them respectfully and fairly, speaks with hetwoman openly about their purpose there. Cathal manages to talk a young boy into coming forward, and then brings the voice of Anduiras to bear, convincing the boy's parents to accompany their son back to Fulcairn Keep. They are compelled to agree, and Fulcairns return to the castle, the boy and his parents in tow. Mara studies the boy with her magic, and determines that the threat is a frighteningly strong bloodline derived from Azrai, the old, dead god of darkness.
Upon returning, they speak shortly with Gwenevier about their journey. Cuinn speaks frustratedly about their penance, questioning its necessity and validity. Gwenevier, distraught that the baroness may have learned nothing from the task, chooses to leave Fulcairn, and serve the people of Wilder's Gorge in the fields and hedges, as a missionary. Cathal, knowing that they would much rather Gwenevier on their council than a more opportunistic priest from the Western Imperial Temple tells Cuinn that he'll get her back and rushes after the Abbess.
Cuinn and Mara go to speak with Melehan, and he informs them that he has a plan to deal with Ruobhe Manslayer once and for all, but the effort will probably destroy him. Regardless, he wishes to do it, and claims that he will not truly die, but pass into another form. Mara is saddened, and troubled by the prospect of no longer having a mentor to guide her. Melehan reassures her, and asks to be left to prepare.
Cathal catches up with Gwenevier and asks her to stay on at the castle, if not to save Cuinn, then to protect his own soul. He persuades her of her importance on the council, even if Cuinn does not much care for her religion. Gwenevier is appeased for the time being and Cathal returns to the keep.
Cathal is informed of Melehan's plan, and, embarrassed for his ill treatment of his uncle, Cathal asks that they journey to his mother's old cottage at the edge of the Aelvinnwode. There, Melehan and Mara scrawl their names in the flesh of the Carving Tree, and Cuinn cuts her new name in under the old. Mara is made a Fulcairn in full, and the for once in a long time, a sense of family settles upon them. They stay a few evenings at the cottage, then return to the keep so Melehan can begin his ritual.
The Fulcairns ascend to the uppermost reaches of Fulcairn Keep, where Melehan has prepared his altar. Mara helps Melehan with the ritual, aiding him in channeling the massive energies of the Mebhaigl and Caermebhaigl, the two sources of divine energy residing in the earth of Wilder's Gorge. Melehan crafts a great maelstrom of magical energy, and sends it into the northeast to bombard Ruobhe in his stronghold. Despite the great distance, Cuinn and Cathal can see enough to watch the titanic magical battle unfold. Melehan's might, bolstered by both of the Gorge's arcane wellsprings, is too much for the Manslayer, whose defenses begin to crumble. All is not quite well, however.
Mara is able to see Melehan's true intentions through the energies they share. The archmage plans to drain Wilder's Gorge of its Mebhaigl, the land's lifeblood, in order to destroy the Awnshegh. But not only this, Melehan intends to absorb the energy of the Caermebhaigl and ascend to a higher state of being. Mara is left with a hard choice.
She can cut the ritual off abruptly, returning the Caermebhaigl and Mebhaigl to their within the land. Doing so will release Ruobhe from the shackles Melehan had previously placed upon him. It will also utterly destroy Melehan.
She can allow the ritual to continue unabated, which she is sure will destroy the Awnshegh forever, but Melehan will take all of the energy of the Caermebhaigl for himself. The Mebhaigl will be completely consumed, sickening the land of Wilder's Gorge, possibly forever, and making its energies untappable in their upcoming conflict.
Lastly, she can allow Melehan the Caermebhaigl, and he can use it to ascend. However, she can wrest control of the Mebhaigl from him, and hold its power just long enough to ensure Ruobhe's imprisonment for at least the near future. The Caermebhaigl, possibly the greatest source of magical power in Anuire, would be gone for good, but she would finally control the Mebhaigl of Wilder's Gorge, the strongest of its kind in Taeghas.
Mara, showing her evolution as a person and the bearing of a true mage, chooses the last option, the compromise. Melehan senses what she is doing, and after a moment's protest relents, absorbing the Caermebhaigl, and ascending into the heavens. The great roil of magical energy dissipates, and Mara slumps to the stone of the battlement. Cathal and Cuinn, baffled at the events that have unfurled before them, rush to their beloved sister's side. She is tired, but unharmed, and a new day dawns over the crenels Fulcairn Keep.
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